Thursday, April 30, 2015

After The End

I did it. I'm finally done with my book. It's been edited, polished and shined, and read more times than I can count. My query letter and synopsis have been written and edited. I've done a lot of professional research. And now I'm done. Its future is currently out of my hands. I won't lie, it's both scary and exciting at the same time. It's strange too. Since August, I have either been actively working on it, or at the very least, brainstorming ideas, every single day. And now, just like that, it's over. I miss my characters. They became like friends and now it's as if they've moved away, and I'm a little lost without them.

I miss writing {creative writing, obviously I'm writing right now}. I miss getting lost in a scene, or even powering through a really tough edit. My days seem less full and I keep thinking I've missed doing something I'm supposed to. I'm trying to give my mind a break {and tackle some house-care I've sorely neglected} before I dive into my next book. But I've got all sorts of stories running around my brain and I'm itching to put pen to paper.

I'm desperately trying not to think about what will happen to my little book from here. I'm leaving that in someone else's hands and attempting to keep busy. But trust me, that's much harder than it looks.

When I much younger, my dream was to write a book. Just one, just to say I did it. Well I have. So no matter what happens in the future, I'm going to enjoy the fact that I wrote an entire book. And even if no one else ever loves it, I do. And that can be enough.

So I'm off to do some spring cleaning, maybe go for a long run, and try to put this all out of my mind. It's strange, I spent so much time focusing on the now of writing, that I forgot to think about what comes after The End.

What do other novelists do? Do you jump right in to your next book? Or wait a few days, weeks, months, etc to decompress?